Read Women discussion
2025 Read Women Challenge
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2025 Read Women - Create Your Own Challenge
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I read some great nonfiction last year and plan to track that as well as "all women". Thanks for setting this up!
For members who like to use widgets to track their reads, here's a link to a women authors challenge for 2025.https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
I checked my read books from last year, and it turned out that about 95% were written by women. I've checked what new authors are mostly being published, and again, almost all are women. I feel like there's strong and intentional discrimination against men, so for this year, I go for all men or at least for the majority of men.
Kat wrote: "I checked my read books from last year, and it turned out that about 95% were written by women. I've checked what new authors are mostly being published, and again, almost all are women. I feel lik..."With respect, the introduction post says, "we challenge you to Create Your Own challenge focused on women authors. We want to read more women, but for some of us, that’s too easy. Please use this thread to track your female authors in 2025"
It is my understanding that the spirit of this group is to focus on women authors, as women as a whole are underrepresented in the writing and publishing world, never mind women of color being severely underrepresented.
Just because an informal scan has shown a lot of women being published (when? where?), that does not mean men are at any sort of risk of discrimination in the publishing world (or anywhere else, for that matter). The oppressor cannot be oppressed.
ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) wrote: "Kat wrote: "I checked my read books from last year, and it turned out that about 95% were written by women. I've checked what new authors are mostly being published, and again, almost all are women..."So well said Teresa, and a very kind response.
Kat wrote: "I checked my read books from last year, and it turned out that about 95% were written by women. I've checked what new authors are mostly being published, and again, almost all are women. I feel lik..."Since this group is explicitly about reading women authors, what inspired you to join it, Kat?
As an aside, this thread is for members setting up their own challenges to read women authors, so your comment doesn't seem to be in the right thread unless I'm mistaken.
I'm not sure what all my goals will be for this year. I do want to hit 70% women authors. I am doing a personal challenge to read #20BooksBySEAsianWomen - I finished my first yesterday with a cozy mystery by a Singaporean author - Ovidia Yu. I read the first book of her Aunty Lee series: Aunty Lee's Delights. I love having reading goals, so I will probably be back with something else. Happy New Year Everyone! And, of course, happy reading!!! :)
In general read more and include more women authors as much as possible. I’ll admit, I have a ton of books, both physical and e-books, that I need to read before I start buying more books. With that in mind, I need to utilize my library card more often. I’m thinking for every 3 books I own that I read, I’ll check out a library book and make it a point for it to be a woman author to aid my overall goals.
Brenda wrote: "In general read more and include more women authors as much as possible. I’ll admit, I have a ton of books, both physical and e-books, that I need to read before I start buying more books. With tha..."I love you made these points, Brenda! I didn't think to acknowledge this in my thread and I'm gonna go amend my post now. I also definitely aim to prioritize books I've already acquired and are waiting for me on my shelves and using my access to my digital libraries via Libby and Hoopla. I also find alot on Internet Archive, especially obscure classics that my e-libraries don't have.
Other than a basic “just read a lot more women than men”, I haven’t pinned down specific goals yet! I feel a bit scattered at the moment with my 2025 planning, so let’s see what I can think of here…
I’m doing a challenge I created for myself and a friend and it’s got 25 prompts, so I’m going to try to use all women authors for that.
Participating here with monthly reads and author focus would also be my goals.
More feminist books (F or NF, either way), more books about women’s issues, women’s history, maybe some of the women who have won literary awards…
I feel like maybe I need to be more broad for now, and see how the year progresses and make changes or additions accordingly.
Jen wrote: "Brenda wrote: "In general read more and include more women authors as much as possible. I’ll admit, I have a ton of books, both physical and e-books, that I need to read before I start buying more ..."Glad my post helped. =)
We got this, ladies!
ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) wrote: "Other than a basic “just read a lot more women than men”, I haven’t pinned down specific goals yet! I feel a bit scattered at the moment with my 2025 planning, so let’s see what I can think of he..."
Honestly Teresa this is exactly how I started my reading goals with the group many years ago. I was surprised at the utter lack of female authors I read at the time. An intentional goal to simply read more women is the perfect start. I think you’ll find that many of the other goals you’ve listed will be embraced by that first step - and I think Read Women is going to boost you right along. We’ve got a wonderful group of diverse readers here and we love to share lists and reviews. I look forward to following your reading as the year progresses.
Thanks for the support, Anita!! Looking so forward to reading more women this year, especially women I’ve never read before.
ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) wrote: "Other than a basic “just read a lot more women than men”, I haven’t pinned down specific goals yet! I feel a bit scattered at the moment with my 2025 planning, so let’s see what I can think of he..."
What a blast do complete a custom challenge with an IRL friend. I'm excited to see what you end up reading for it, Teresa.
On my early-planning list for this year are:Fiction
2 out of 3 of: Jonah's Gourd Vine, Moses, Man of the Mountain and Mules and Men, all by Zora Neale Hurston
The Jealous One by Celia Fremlin (classic)
Deceits of Time by Isabel Colegate (mid-century UK)
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta (Nigerian-American author, lgbtq+ theme, Biafra Civil War
More Muriel Spark and Barbara Pym
Exposure by Ramona Emerson (Native American author, second in series)
Frangipani House by Guyana-born British author, Beryl Gilroy
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins (African-American author)
Man of My Time by Dalia Sofer (Iran born, American)
1 or both of The Night Tiger and/or The Ghost Bride by Malaysian author, Yangsze Choo
2 out of 3 of Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen, Head Above Water and The Family
Non-Fiction
Travels with a Writing Brush: Classical Japanese Travel Writing from the Manyoshu to Basho edited and translated by Meredith McKinney, although selections might be authored by men
Borders Witch Hunt by Mary W. Craig
In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by French feminist, Mona Chollet (#WiT)
Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women by Italian-American feminist, academic and activist Silvia Federici
Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji (an 842 pg doorstopper; Chatterji is Indian-born, resides in Cambridge)
The Rule of St. Benedict by Benedict of Nursia
Male author, about the 2017 assassination of (female) Indian reporter, Gauri Launkesh) I Am on the Hit List: A Journalist's Murder and the Rise of Autocracy in India by Rollo Romig
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry (2025 release)
Absolutely reading more women! Last year, I fell down the LitRPG rabbit hole, which is a male dominated genre. I'm not dropping it, but I definitely want to refocus my reading.A genre I've neglected in the past few years is science fiction. I've always loved sci-fi, and I don't know why it fell by the wayside for me.
And, like every year, I try to read some kind of non-fiction, but it rarely happens. This year, I'm going to try and read something short in the hopes of finishing!
Good luck, everyone!
Ozsaur wrote: "Absolutely reading more women! Last year, I fell down the LitRPG rabbit hole, which is a male dominated genre. I'm not dropping it, but I definitely want to refocus my reading.A genre I've neglec..."
Had to look up what LitRPG means. I did just learn of this cuz my brother was reading Dungeon Crawler Carl- did you read this one?? It sounds fun and the audio via my e-library has over 200 people waiting!
Anyway, back to women, I'd be curious for updates on your other speculative reads. I still remember learning about solarpunk from you in this group and am still excited about this as a genre.
How would one create one's own thread if one were so inclined?
G wrote: "How would one create one's own thread if one were so inclined?"G, I'm glad you asked and didn't realize that we never explain the "how". These instructions work on the desktop version (regardless of whether you access GR on your device or laptop). I don't know whether the mobile version works the same way.
If you scroll up to the top of this discussion thread, click on "2025 Read Women Challenge", the green/live link portion of the title.
You'll see a list of all threads nested under the 2025 Read Women Challenge folder. At the top right - just above the list - are 2 options "edit folders" and "new topic".
Click on "new topic" and it will open a form. Your name and whatever else you want to use as a title is the first field. The Folder (2025 Read Women Challenge) is already selected - don't change it.
Put something in the comment field or it won't save (if it's empty), even if it's nonsense characters that you can go back and edit later.
Save. You're done.
Jen, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a good place to start in LitRPG. It's dark, but also very funny. Also has a talking cat!If you prefer something lighter, I'd recommend Beware of Chicken. It's very wholesome!
I'm just getting started on loading my TBR with sci-fi, and speculative fiction. I'm still into solarpunk, and I'm always on the lookout for it.
ETA: Just found this list - Solarpunk
Ozsaur wrote: "Jen, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a good place to start in LitRPG. It's dark, but also very funny. Also has a talking cat!If you prefer something lighter, I'd recommend [book:Beware of..."
Oh wow, a quick glance at that list and I counted 8 five star reads from my shelves and a handful of four stars. Thanks for sharing, hopefully I’ll find some more great reads there.
Jen wrote: "Had to look up what LitRPG means."LOL - same.
Read Women
Books mentioned in this topic
Dungeon Crawler Carl (other topics)Beware of Chicken (other topics)
Dungeon Crawler Carl (other topics)
Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century (other topics)
In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Meredith McKinney (other topics)Mona Chollet (other topics)
Imani Perry (other topics)
Silvia Federici (other topics)
Mary W. Craig (other topics)
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For this year’s annual Read Women Challenge, we challenge you to Create Your Own challenge focused on women authors. We want to read more women, but for some of us, that’s too easy. Please use this thread to track your female authors in 2025, and put your own spin to it if you’d like. Do you want to read more Asian women? More translated women? More new to you authors? Whatever you want to focus on, feel free to incorporate that into your yearly Read Women challenge. And if simply reading more women is your goal, this is still the place for you.
Post your goals, recs, and reviews - and don’t forget to keep us updated. You’re welcome to create your own thread under this topic with your name and personal challenge if you’d like.
Happy reading!